It's still unlikely for the US to qualify though, since they require both Ghana and the Czech Republic to not get a win in the final game for each of them.

After the recent round of games, I'm tipping Argentina and Italy (not counting the draw against the US ) to go far in this competition. The fact that Argentina had five different scorers in their 6-0 win proves that any of their players can score. The 24 passes strung together leading to Cambiasso's goal was also highly impressive. Furthermore, with Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, they have quality substitutes.

For Italy, Cannavaro and Nesta are still doing well despite the former ageing fast. If Luca Toni can reproduce his club form, the team will go far.

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Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:20 am

Galar

Gym Leader

Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:04 amPosts: 1320Location: Sky Tower

Okay, so we've managed to beat Australia 2 x 0. I can't say it was a good game, though. Honestly, Ronaldo simply must to go to the bench. And remove someone else, so that Robinho and Fred can play. We're waisting good talents, and I can't understand what's wrong with our couch. We haven't been playing like "ZOMG INVINCIBLE TEAM THAT ALWAYS SCORES 20000 X 0!!!!!111", and most of us are hopeless. The media's been acting in such a promotive way we're going to loose. That's hexing...

Oh. Stop assuming we're going to win every single match, and stop assuming we'll win with scorelines like 9856068940948 x - 129. I won't even have words to say <s>when</s> if Brazil loses the upcoming matches if you keep that kind of thought, which is, in fact, wrong. I'll have to hide in shame and never show my face to the public again. X(

In fact, Parreira is quite disappointing me. He simply WON'T remove Ronaldo, and we're all sick and tired of his lack of attitude in the field. He is fat and his feet is probably full of those goddamn bruises. Someone needs to change his soccer shoes.

Or maybe he has placed our players in wrong positions. I don't know. But I can assure you this is all his fault. X(

So, my opinion? We're not going to win this cup. No way we are. I hate to admit this *shivers*, but Argentina's been playing quite well, and they're most likely to *shivers again* win. This is just a little south american hostility, so please don't pay attention to this shivering reaction of mine. X(

DragonPhoenix: You can run but you can't hide. ;(

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Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:25 am

sN0wBaLL

Lite Four

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 amPosts: 3827Location: Singapore

Parreira claims to have his reasons for starting Ronaldo each time, and replacing him with Robinho later in the match. He insists that some players are suited to start matches, while others will only have a bigger impact when they are brought on later in the game. Besides, he says that Ronaldo might be off-form for an entire game, but is still capable of conjuring up a moment of magic to change the course of the game. For instance, in the game against Australia, it was actually partly because of Ronaldo's vision that led to their opening goal by Adriano. Ronaldo had gotten the ball, done a single step-over, and seemed to ran out of ideas, but he made a pass and it led to the goal.

Anyway, I think Parreira has to change his tactics soon<s>er rather than later</s>. 4-2-4 might work well against lesser teams, but a defensive midfield of Ze Roberto and Emerson/Gilberto Silva isn't going to be able to handle the four or even five-man midfields of teams like Spain, Italy, or even Argentina. Ronaldinho and Kaka are great players, but they do not help out defensively, and too often they fail to communicate with Roberto Carlos and Cafu (respectively), leading to gaps behind them which opponents can exploit. That is the true reason why they are not doing well.

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Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:34 pm

Jigglypuff

The Geek

Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:10 amPosts: 1535Location: Milliways

America's still alive because the Italians scored on themselves. Brazil sealed a victory thanks to a guy named Fred. ..I'm actually enjoying this. Weird..

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Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:45 am

abloomon4

Psychic Trainer

Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 2:31 pmPosts: 90Location: New Jersey!

--Incredibly late on this--Ghana 2, Czech Republic 0. -- biggest upset so far! gotta say it due to pride (US is NEXT)--

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Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:54 am

sN0wBaLL

Lite Four

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 amPosts: 3827Location: Singapore

Er, chadim and SneakySneasel (lol why are you impersonating one of our mods ;x), you might want to give reasons to explain why you support each of those countries, otherwise your posts will just be viewed as spam.

And, regarding the Ghana victory, abloomon4, I must say that I'm surprised that Ghana is now Africa's best representative, much like South Korea is one for Asia. It'll be interesting to see who can emerge out of the group now, all four teams having a mathematical chance of progressing

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Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:14 am

JsXtm

Gym Leader

Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:34 pmPosts: 2204Location: Madison, WI

Alright, so lets see now. Only a few groups still haven't gotten their qualifications completely done.
In A, Ecuador and Germany both advance.
In B, England has a spot, and Sweden seems to have the second one clinched, although Trinidad has a faint hope of getting that spot.
In C, Argentina and the Netherlands advance.
In D, Portugal has a spot, and Mexico looks like it'll easily clinch it over Angola.
In E, It's still anybody's game, although Italy is probably going to get a spot.
In F, Brazil has of course clinched, and Australia is in a pretty solid second, although they haven't clinched yet.
In G, the only one who's been eliminated is Togo; Switzerland and South Korea are tied with 4 points, but France has 2 and still isn't out of contention.
In H, Spain is in, and Ukraine probably is, while Tunisia and Saudi Arabia might still sneak past Ukraine.

So, I'm not very soccer-literate. What of these results are suprising, and what are expected?

Alright, so lets see now. Only a few groups still haven't gotten their qualifications completely done.
In A, Ecuador and Germany both advance.
In B, England has a spot, and Sweden seems to have the second one clinched, although Trinidad has a faint hope of getting that spot.
In C, Argentina and the Netherlands advance.
In D, Portugal has a spot, and Mexico looks like it'll easily clinch it over Angola.
In E, It's still anybody's game, although Italy is probably going to get a spot.
In F, Brazil has of course clinched, and Australia is in a pretty solid second, although they haven't clinched yet.
In G, the only one who's been eliminated is Togo; Switzerland and South Korea are tied with 4 points, but France has 2 and still isn't out of contention.
In H, Spain is in, and Ukraine probably is, while Tunisia and Saudi Arabia might still sneak past Ukraine.

So, I'm not very soccer-literate. What of these results are suprising, and what are expected?

Okay then I'll break it down for you...

In Group A, Poland was expected to advance with Germany. What happend though was an upset from Ecuador. That win over Poland was easily enough to clinch it, and it was sealed with a win over Costa Rica.

In Group B, England was easily expected, and did, but not easily. They played horribly, and didn't really dominate the group in style as much as they should. Sweden was expected to go through, but their first round tie scared them a bit. They still got through, however. And England has yet to beat Sweden

Group C had no surpises. Holland and Argentina both advanced dominatingly.

Group D is messed up. Portugal advance, but they didn't do it with the Grace of their Euro showing. They most likely won't survive they next round. Mexico looks like they can take the next spot, but this is a really weird group.

Group E is the other completely mess up group. USA has actually a good chance of going through with Italy, since we could, theoretically, beat Ghana. Our awesome showing against Italy should boost our confidence enough to get the players motivated, and Italy could easily beat Czech Rep.

Group F Brazil is through, of course, but the second place is in a dead locked match. Australia vs. Croatia. Australia has only 3 points, and Croatia has 1. This means that if Croatia wins, the Aussies are sent packing, but a Tie or a Win for Australia will send them through. They are both good teams, so it's a toss up. Japan are basically out, since Brazil should beat them.

Group E France is the big let down here. Well, actually it should have been expected. I mean, look at '02. Look at Euro '04. Both are dropouts in the first round. And now two ties, and I can honestly see another one coming up. All Switzerland and South Korea have to do to stop France from progressing, although, is simply to Tie. 1-1 should do it, although 0-0 should still work if France don't overwhelm Togo, which they shouldn't.

Group H Ukrain and Spain should easily progress. Ukraine looked a bit shaky after that 4-0 defeat in their first match, but then they came back with a 4-0 win, so they may just have what it takes.

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Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:16 pm

Flaming_Wuzzle

Frontier Brain

Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:22 pmPosts: 825

Just to have everyone caught up with what has to happen for various teams to advance...(copied from Wikipedia)

QUALIFYING SCENARIOS:

-----------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
-----------------------------------------------------------
Group CArgentina and Netherlands have qualified for the second round. The winner of their match will win the group. Argentina will win the group with Netherlands as runners up in case of a draw.
C

Er, chadim and SneakySneasel (lol why are you impersonating one of our mods ;x), you might want to give reasons to explain why you support each of those countries, otherwise your posts will just be viewed as spam.

well..... if you actually looked at my little information section under my avatar... you would soon find oot that i am FROM england therefore it would make no sense to root for another country... would it???? i dont think so.....

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Wed Jun 21, 2006 6:23 am

abloomon4

Psychic Trainer

Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 2:31 pmPosts: 90Location: New Jersey!

Ghana 2, USA 0

We (Ghana) advance! Upset of the World Cup!
Today was a national holiday in Ghana, thats cool....

EDIT: Ghana 2, USA 1

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Last edited by abloomon4 on Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:12 am

Flaming_Wuzzle

Frontier Brain

Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:22 pmPosts: 825

abloomon4 wrote:

Ghana 2, USA 0

We (Ghana) advance! Upset of the World Cup!
Today was a national holiday in Ghana, thats cool....

FIFA's rankings give every country a rank, so Australia isn't un-ranked, just that they had not played in the World Cup Finals (for the top 32 teams) for more than 30 years.

Who would've thought that the Czech Republic would have got eliminated in the Group Stages? I blame it on their lack of striking options. Jan Koller went out before even completing the first game, Milan Baros practically sat the entire tournament out, and Lovenc got suspended for their crucial game last night.

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Fri Jun 23, 2006 5:12 am

Sneaky Sneasel

Gym Leader

Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:21 pmPosts: 3128Location: College

They're going to lose to Italy...GO ITALY!

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Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:46 am

sN0wBaLL

Lite Four

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 amPosts: 3827Location: Singapore

I like Guus Hiddink and Tim Cahill, but I can't really see Australia beating Italy. Troubling the Italians, yes, but beating is going to be a huge task. Nesta might not be playing though, so that's some good news to supporters of the Socceroos.

What a pity, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan and Iran have all been eliminated. Asia lacks a representative in the final 16 =(

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Fri Jun 23, 2006 6:21 pm

JsXtm

Gym Leader

Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:34 pmPosts: 2204Location: Madison, WI

sN0wBaLL wrote:

Asia lacks a representative in the final 16 =(

So does Antarctica. From what I hear, the Pan-Penguin team got giped this year.

Yes, actually, that is a bit unusual. Given the total population of that Continent, it's suprising that none of the countries were able to field a decent soccer team. What happened to India and Pakistan? Don't they both have pretty good soccer teams?

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